On this day: Busby makes Albion debut

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Our trailblazer discusses his time with Albion and beyond.

Luke Nicoli

2024-10-20T06:00+01:00

This weekend marks the beginning of the 2024/25 season's No Room For Racism campaign, with today (Sunday) coinciding with the anniversary of Dave Busby's - Albion's first ever black player - first team debut.

The forward made his debut in a 2-0 win over Shrewsbury Town in October 1973, going onto make a handful of appearances before plying his trade in Non-League.

How did you become a Brighton player, Dave?

Dave, pictured back row, first from left, with his youth team.

"I went to a boarding school in Heathfield, Sussex – where Frank Bruno was a fellow pupil and remains a friend to this day – and one of our teachers had a connection with the football club and suggested I go down for a trial.

"So I turned up at the Goldstone, along with around ten other hopefuls, but some were so nervous and unable to handle the stress that they just walked off the pitch. When it was my turn to go on, I took it all in my stride and did okay.

"I was then invited to play for the club’s under-16 team every Sunday and my teacher, who lived in the Brighton area, would drive me down from school, let me stay over at his house, then drive me back to school on the Monday morning. He did that for a month or so then our coach at Brighton, Glen Wilson, took over and would pick me up and drop me back at school – really going out of his way for me.

"He looked after me and seeing him do that really made me feel wanted, and made me really determined to make the most of the opportunity."

You must have made an impression then?

"I found playing at that level very easy to be honest and often coasted my way through games. I know that annoyed Glen and he would accuse me of not trying.

"He gave me a kick up the backside every now and then, just to keep me on my toes. I was then taken on as an apprentice and we had a decent team. We played in the South East Counties League against the likes of Arsenal and Tottenham, and I started playing reserve team games too. Despite my age and inexperience, I was quick, I was scoring goals and was soon knocking on the first-team door, just itching to get my chance."

It came shortly before Pat Saward’s departure as manager, in a 2-0 win against Shrewsbury Town, back in October 1973. What are your memories of that game?

"Back then you only had one sub on the bench, so if you’ve made the 12, then you know you’ve got a chance of playing.

"I came on with about ten minutes left [replacing loanee John Boyle]. I was only 17 at the time, so I didn’t really have any nerves and there was no real pressure on me. I just went out and tried to make an impression and I remember the Goldstone crowd cheering me when I came on. When you get a buzz like that, you just want more of the same."

Pat missed the match as he was scouting a keeper at Crewe, leaving Glen in charge…

"That could well be the reason I got my chance as Glen had real faith in me. As I said, we had an excellent group of young players at the time, but I felt Pat was never brave enough to chuck us in the team alongside the more experienced pros.

"If he’d done that, I always felt it would have been the perfect combination and we could have gone places. But managers have always been under pressure to get results and maybe he felt it was a gamble too far."

Brian Clough was Saward’s shock replacement. What was it like playing for Old Big ‘Ead?

"I actually went for a trial at Derby County when I was 15, when Brian Clough was manager there. Obviously they were one of the top clubs in the country back then, title winners, playing in the European Cup, and I stayed for three weeks.

"At the end Brian had a chat with me and told me that while I was good enough to become a professional footballer, I would stand a better chance in the Third or Fourth Division. Fast forward the clock and here he was as my manager!

"He was correct with his prediction but when he joined Brighton, I did remind him who I was – although I’m not sure he actually remembered me. It was obviously a big shock to us all when he was appointed but as has been written since, was he really that committed to the cause? We were expecting a big lift under him, but it never happened despite his track record in the game."

You never played under Clough, but the following season under Peter Taylor you made your one and only start for the club away at Blackburn Rovers…

"There were other youth-team players who had been given their opportunities before me, which was frustrating, but I continued to score goals in the reserves and was then rewarded with my first professional contract at the start of the 1974/75 season.

"I was on the bench a couple of times, had another run-out at the Goldstone against Reading in the cup, and then remember Glen pulling me in training in the week of the Blackburn game, telling me to be more professional because I was still clowning around too much.

"There was reason he did this because on the morning of the game he told me to report to the Goldstone and wear a shirt and tie. I was on the coach with Peter Taylor and the first-team for the long journey north."

How did you find the experience?

"On the outside I was all smiles, but on the inside I was nervous. Here I was, a young black kid of 17 going on this long coach trip with a team of men – and I had none of my apprentice mates with me this time.

"There were no hotels, no overnights back then, we did the journey and back in one day but as I got on the coach, nobody sat next to me. I felt really alone; this was partly because I was seen as something of a threat – a young kid who would be taking the place of a senior pro, and also because I was the only black face. That’s the kind of resistance you came up against, and you just had to accept it and get on with your football."

What do you mean by ‘resistance’?

"My colour definitely held me back. I always felt people were looking for excuses not to play me because I was black. I was told I was not hard enough, I didn’t run round enough, or I was too small and couldn’t hack it.

"All these excuses were thrown at me when there were other white players less talented or less deserving of a chance who were promoted to the first team ahead of me.

"To make the breakthrough as a black player back in the Seventies you had to be absolutely exceptional, as we saw with the likes of Laurie Cunningham and Cyrille Regis playing at West Brom."

Did you suffer racism from opponents or even team-mates?

"Both. When I was in the youth team at Brighton, I’d get things said to me in training – and there were definitely tackles that would come flying in at me that you wouldn’t see aimed at other players, tackles that I had to skip out of to stop myself getting seriously hurt.

"I think the fact that I would take the micky out of some of them, in terms of my ability, gave them the needle but saying that, when it came to matches, we were a tight bunch and we gelled well.

"When I did step up to the first team, I would get verbal and physical abuse, both in training from my team-mates and, of course, from the opposition. As much as I wanted to react sometimes, Glen always told me that I was bigger than that and for me to do my talking on the pitch.

"A couple of the first-team players were good to me though; I remember Steve Piper really taking me under his wing, looking after me and speaking up for me. I’ll never forget that, he was a top bloke."

What are your memories of the game at Ewood Park?

"I remember the coach journey went on forever and it felt like we were playing in the middle of nowhere.

"I remember the pitch was really muddy and I’d get the monkey chants from the Blackburn fans every time I touched the ball – that was something I didn’t get at the Goldstone to be fair. It wasn’t something that got to me though because I was just so focused on the game and trying playing well for the team.

"I did have an opportunity to score with a ball from deep, but the keeper took me out and that was my one real chance gone that day."

You made one more appearance for the club, at home to Port Vale a few weeks later. Do you feel you deserved more of a chance?

"Without a doubt. As any striker will tell you, it’s all about getting a run of four or five games, that’s when you find your feet. It was always stop-start with me at Brighton but I honestly believe that if I’d been given a decent run then I would have scored goals.

"Unfortunately it wasn’t to be and at the end of the season a sheet went up in the changing room, with the names of all the released players on it. I was one of the names.

"There were no agents in those days, it was all word of mouth. If someone wanted you, they’d get in contact with the club, or with you direct. I felt that my colour might go against me again – and so it proved."

So even though you’d played in the third tier of English football, you dropped out of the professional game then?

"I became a greengrocer, selling veg in in South Kensington, then trained as a car mechanic because I needed an alternative career as the football route was looking like it had hit a dead end.

"At the time, my good friend from Brighton’s youth team, Ricky Sopp, asked me to join him at Worthing and I scored 30 goals in half a season and ended up playing there for two years – the fans loved me!

"I was then invited up to Blackpool for a week’s trial, stayed for three months, but a change of manager ended any chance of earning a contract there.

"From there, I continued to head north, to Barrow, in what is now the Conference [National League], and that was an experience off the pitch being the only black face in town. As I walked down the high street I would literally stop traffic and if I went in a pub, the whole place would go quiet and people would stare at me – like that scene from the American Werewolf in London – I found it hilarious. They’d never seen a black face before; were they expecting me to steal from them or beat them up?! Once they got to talk to me that suspicion turned to acceptance. I’d say, ‘come on guys, I’m playing for your team!’"

So what has happened in the interim years?

Dave is now a bus driver at Heathrow airport.

"Once I’d returned south, I played for Gravesend & Northfleet. I was scoring goals and there was interest from Bournemouth, but that fell through for some reason. I continued to play non-league football and by this time, I had a steady job, working for a car leasing company in Putney. I then worked as a coach driver, touring Europe for ten years, which I really enjoyed.

"I’ve also worked in customs, and for the past seven years I’ve been working at Heathrow, shuttling passengers from the terminal building to the aircraft and vice-versa. It will soon be time to put my feet up, but I enjoy what I do and I still enjoy watching football. I do keep a look out for Brighton’s results and it’s great to see the club doing so well now."

As Albion’s first black player, do you see yourself as something of a trailblazer?

"At the time, I was obviously unaware of the significance of the game against Shrewsbury, other than it being my professional debut, but looking back now I’m immensely proud to be Brighton & Hove Albion’s first black player.

"While my career didn’t take the path I would have liked, it’s an honour nobody can take away from me. Every now and again, people will recognise me and I was even on a plane to the Channel Islands when I guy sat down next to me and said, ‘You’re Dave Busby, I remember watching you play in a friendly against Crawley’.

"That’s always nice and it’s lovely to be connected with the club again through such interviews."